Prince Harry and Meghan Tour by Thomas Markle's Friend Sparks Outrage

A Prince Harry and Meghan Markle celebrity sightseeing tour by a photographer friend of Thomas Markle has "jeopardized the safety" of the Sussexes, according to a disinformation researcher.

Karl Larsen, who set up a YouTube channel with Meghan's father called "Remarkable Friendship," is charging $1,200 to groups of five or six for nine-hour Harry and Meghan sightseeing tours.

Larsen triggered a backlash and allegations he was bringing "online harassment" into the real world, though he told Newsweek he was hoping to appeal to fans of the couple, not critics.

The tour was listed on travel website Tripening.com, but the company said on social media that it had pulled the listing following outrage, including from Christopher Bouzy, founder of tech firm Bot Sentinel. Viator.com also pulled the listing, a spokesperson told Newsweek on August 23.

Bouzy was interviewed about his research into online trolls on the couple's Harry & Meghan Netflix show and told Newsweek: "The recent incident where a celebrity tour was being organized to visit the neighborhood of the Duke and Duchess's residence is a concerning escalation of online harassment transitioning to the real world.

"The problematic listing was an act of targeted harassment, and it jeopardized the safety of the Duke and Duchess's family.

"The rise in online harassment underscores the urgent need for robust legislation to counteract this escalating problem that affects everyone."

Larsen told Newsweek: "I have no intentions of going past Harry and Meghan's house for that reason, just where she [Meghan] grew up.

"I want to have the tour be available where she grew up. We're going to go to Montecito but just places they go to, restaurants they go to."

And he added that online opposition would not stop the tours going ahead: "This is not going to be the end of the tour.

"This tour is designed for people who like Harry and Meghan, it's like going to see Elvis, going to Graceland because they like Elvis."

He added: "It's a custom tour so if people want to go see other sights that's what we're going to do but we will not go past [Meghan's mother] Doria [Ragland's] house and we will not go past Harry and Meghan's."

The tour was listed on Viator under the heading: "The Royal Celebrity Tour of Los Angeles and Montecito."

The listing read: "I'm the world-famous celebrity photographer Karl Larsen, a best friend of Thomas Markle [Meghan's father] and the guy with a stunning exclusive portfolio of pictures of Prince Harry & Meghan Markle together in Montecito.

"I am the ONLY person in the world that knows the truth about what happened between Meghan Markle and her father ahead her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018.

"There is nobody on the planet that knows more info than me and I'm the only person that's qualified to put on such a tour."

Larsen's YouTube channel with Thomas Markle contained repeated criticisms of Harry and Meghan, as well as an episode in which the photographer suggested Meghan's father should buy the house next door to Meghan's mother Doria, which was on sale at the time.

Following the backlash, Larsen added a section saying the tour wouldn't visit the homes of Harry and Meghan and Doria Ragland, and that: "Anyone on the tour whose intentions is to harass anyone will immediately be asked to leave without refund."

The saga comes just weeks after a backlash against YouTuber Andy Signore, who had pledged to take his viewers on a mock "Worldwide Privacy Tour" to Montecito, in reference to a South Park episode that ridiculed the couple.

Signore discussed the new tour on a recent Popcorned Planet YouTube video with co-host "Stef the Alter Nerd": "They are taking our idea, Stef, and monetizing it."

"It looks like it's being arranged by a father or, sorry, a friend of Megan's father who is now sightseeing but look, Stef, all this proves is this was totally legal. I'm sure people have done it."

Larsen told Newsweek he hadn't based his tour on Signore's planned protest: "Well, no, otherwise I would have called mine the worldwide privacy tour but it's not about that.

"It's that there are a lot of people who like the royal family and if you go to the United States Harry's the only member of the royal family. And it's the extraordinary background Meghan had, not the one that she portrays but the one she really had."

Update 8/23/23, 10:51 a.m. ET: This article was updated with Viator.com's decision to pull the listing.

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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